Privacy-First Web Analytics: ClickHouse, Redis Buffers, and Sub-1KB Tracking

Google Analytics loads 45KB of JavaScript and uses cookies. PagePulse tracks everything you need in under 1KB with zero cookies.

1. The 800-Byte Tracking Script

Our tracking snippet collects page URL, referrer, viewport, and country (from IP) without any cookies or local storage:

javascript
(function() {
  const data = { url: location.href, ref: document.referrer, sw: screen.width };
  navigator.sendBeacon('/api/collect', JSON.stringify(data));
})();

2. Redis Write Buffer

Incoming events are buffered in Redis lists and flushed to ClickHouse every 5 seconds in batches, preventing write amplification under high traffic.

3. ClickHouse OLAP Queries

ClickHouse processes billions of rows in milliseconds. Dashboard queries like "top pages this week by country" return in under 50ms even with millions of events.

Summary

Cookie-free tracking + columnar OLAP storage creates an analytics platform that is both privacy-compliant and blazing fast at any scale.